Axalon
Optimus Primal (Botcon 2006 Exclusive)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original Cybertron Crumplezone. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Cybertron Crumplezone here.)
Optimus Primal's pre-Beast
Wars form is based off of the Cybertron Crumplezone toy, and, just like
all the pre-Beast Wars forms in this year's Botcon exclusives, the color
scheme is pretty spot-on when compared to the original
Beast Wars toy, both in their respective shades and in their placement
on the figure. The black, red, and blue form a pretty simplistic color
scheme, but it works fairly well, and they certainly don't clash. The silver
and gray are some nice accent colors, as well-- I especially like the gray
paint app on the backside of his cockpit, as in robot mode it's kind of
a precursor to the gray ape-face on the chest that he has in his original
Beast Wars form. The big guns on the back are also a nice nod to the jetpack-becomes-shoulder-guns
that he has in his Beast Wars form, as well. However, that said, I don't
know if this was really the best mold to use for Optimus Primal, namely
because of the proportions for the robot mode. They're very gorilla-like,
yes, but Primal never had gorilla proportions in robot mode until he got
his Optimal Optimus form, and even they his legs
were never THIS short, his arms were just long in comparison. This "big
strongman" proportions work well for big dumb beefy dudes like Crumplezone,
but not for a Maximal leader like Primal. Something like, say, Cybertron
Dirt Boss might've worked a bit better as the base mold.
No mold changes have
been made to Optimus Primal, except for the head, which has been given
an entirely new mold. That's certainly good, as Crumplezone's DEFINITELY
wouldn't have fit Primal, but the detailing on the head is kind of... bad,
if you ask me. The side antennae are too simplistic and the lines are a
bit too curvy, kind of like his antennae are made of silly putty. Something
about the mouth also seems off somehow. In addition, because of the odd
head size restrictions inherent in the mold due to Crumplezone's uniquely
shaped head, to overcome this they had to make Primal's head noticeably
smaller in proportion to the rest of his body-- I mean, his head is TINY
in comparison to that huge bulky body of his. (This is another reason why
I don't think this was the best mold to use.) One surprise is that the
toy still retains the same Cyber Key-activated electronics that Crumplezone
had, which is pretty cool. Also, like all the other toys in the Botcon
set, the Cyber Key used in the Cybertron version has instead been replaced
with a solid gray Planet X Key bearing a Maximal symbol and a painted bit
of Golden Disk detailing over the main part of the Cyber Key, hence the
new name "Golden Disk Key".
Axalon Optimus Primal
is a fair update to our favorite Maximal leader, and it's a good toy mold,
but it's not the most fitting for a guy like Optimus, and the new head
mold is a little amateurish-looking, in my opinion. One of my least favorite
of the Botcon '06 toys in terms of mold suitability.
Review by Beastbot